A CAMPAIGN has begun to raise $30,000 to help secure the financial future of the Border’s Kangaloola wildlife shelter.
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The action follows the refuge, which is near Yackandandah, being on the verge of closing before an SOS call for emergency funding last December.
Kangaloola secretary Chris Lehmann said he did not want a repeat of that scenario.
“This funding appeal is about getting on the front foot for 2016,” Mr Lehmann said.
“We know our costs are about $3000 a month, so we’ve set a target for $30,000 by the end of the year.
“We don’t want to ask for support all the time, we’d rather concentrate our efforts into one period and let that money do its good work.”
Mr Lehmann said the shelter relied on donations for 100 per cent of its costs and it was applying for Indigo Council and Victorian Government grants to widen its base for contributions.
“The majority of money comes from the public and we’re using the internet and Facebook to broaden it beyond the local community,” Mr Lehmann said.
“We’ve had a big focus on Facebook this year and we would be regularly reaching 2500 people and it was averaging 400 to 500 people at the start of the year.
“Our long-term goal is to have an animal adoption program but there is a heck of a lot of work that needs to go into that.”
Mr Lehmann said Kangaloola wanted to study how other animal services operated adoption programs before adopting the same system.
Underlining the costs, Mr Lehmann said $2000 went to housing a joey for the average two years before it is released back into the wild.
Much of the cost goes towards a special marsupial formula used for their milk and medical expenses such as X-rays.
Mr Lehmann said juvenile wombats and koalas drew the biggest reaction through Facebook.
“I think it’s because people don’t see them as much, they are more mysterious and surprising,” he said.
